Friday, February 24, 2006

Stupid people run television

I have to wonder whether the people at FOX are the biggest idiots ever. How could they put Skating with Celebrities on in the same time slot as the women's figure skating long program? Don't they think that most of their fans (the few they have) will probably be watching the Olympic skating? Ridiculous.

I spent the entire day yesterday looking forward to the women's figure skating long program, avoiding all word of the outcome. I got home and after specifically telling my boyfriend I didn't want to know anything about the event, he said that he didn't know the results either, just that "Sasha Cohen was injured during her practice."

How is this not telling me about the event? He claims that what he told me was something that happened before the event, and was information that the reporters would surely share as soon as I turned on the television. I told him that knowing anything I hadn't known the second I walked through the door was more than I wanted. He did not see my point. Clearly, I am correct here.

So, a little suspense was gone, as I assumed if Cohen was hurt she probably didn't do much better than a bronze medal. Obviously, I was wrong. The entire long program was so very dull. The Japanese skater who won the gold had such a large margin of victory, and yet her skate was not at all exciting. Sasha's skate was more interesting than most of the others, but everyone seemed to lack energy and passion. Even the medals ceremony was unexciting--just a few tears from Irina Slutskaya and that was it. And Sasha reportedly said that she felt lucky to get a silver (or any medal at all). Shouldn't she have been jumping up and down when she realized she was an Olympic silver medalist? I could understand if she were Michelle Kwan of four years ago (or even eight years ago), totally dominant in the sport, considered the heavy, heavy favorite to win the gold. But she wasn't. Sasha went into the Olympics as a medal favorite, but she has not won a world championship and there were a number of other skaters, particularly Slutskaya, that many thought could beat Sasha for the gold. So getting the silver should have been a result she was happy with at any point. The fact that she managed to get it after falling on her butt twice? She should have been elated!

The figure skating commentators are also quite dim. After the skate someone showed the difference in scoring between Sasha and Irina's programs, and claimed that the difference between the silver and bronze came down to spins, footwork and artistry. And then she said that while they both messed up the jumps, Cohen overcame her falls while Slutskaya let them affect the rest of her program. This might have been good analysis had Slutskaya fallen near the beginning of her program. But she didn't! She fell when it was almost over!

I bet Michelle Kwan was smashing things throughout her living room while she watched. I didn't think she had any chance of winning under the new scoring system, but after yesterday's skate, I think she might have been able to pull it off.

On an unrelated note, I hate filler. Dancing with the Stars had a two-hour episode last night. The first dance of the competition did not start until one hour and three minutes into the episode. I don't know how I would get anything done without my DVR.

I did love Drew's freestyle. And Jerry's freestyle was a big surprise--I thought he was very good! I was really disappointed in Stacy's (as were the judges). She already had an uphill battle to win, since she doesn't have the natural fan following of either Drew or Jerry, and when she didn't pull out a good freestyle performance, meaning lower scores from the judges, she basically sealed her fate. Having said that, my untrained eye thinks that Stacy really has the potential to be a professional dancer. Drew is great, but I think Stacy is better.

On the spoiler point, I have a story: I went to the NBC website last Thursday to see if they would say when during the 4 hrs of coverage the long skate would be (of course, I should have known they would stretch it to the entire 4). ALL I did was click on "Olympics." And it took me IMMEDIATELY to the RESULTS!!! No warning. Nothing in the link to suggest that I was heading to the results. Anyway, this serves both as a vent and a warning to all of you.